Kids hols during termtime - 10 days max ?

bylromarha

Ask yourself what the school will do if you do take more than 10 days holiday? Are they likely to go to Ed welfare? What has happened in other cases in your school this academic year? Our school doesn't chase up, just send parents a disapproving letter.

And as for kids benefitting from travel, all depends on what parents do with them when away. Some come back with "had a great time in the pool" and others rave about all the stuff they saw/did.

spursman

what everyone forgets is you are only reading & writing this because of school. when i went to school i cant remember half the class taking days off for holidays
my daughter who is 10 has been to 20 different countries(a lie really as i'm counting Corfu/Rhodes/Zante as separate countries) apart from 1 day when we went to Jamaica in 2000 she had had all holidays in school holiday time(including coming back from States & going to school same day(we had told school she may not be in but she wanted to go in) people will say we can afford it but we have had 2 weeks Dom Rep AI £289 last 2 weeks in August, Jamaica AI £359 easter holidays, Tunisia FB 10 days over easter holidays £400 for the whole family, so there are cheap holidays out there if you look for them

Norman-B

spursman wrote:

what everyone forgets is you are only reading & writing this because of school. when i went to school i cant remember half the class taking days off for holidays
my daughter who is 10 has been to 20 different countries(a lie really as i'm counting Corfu/Rhodes/Zante as separate countries) apart from 1 day when we went to Jamaica in 2000 she had had all holidays in school holiday time(including coming back from States & going to school same day(we had told school she may not be in but she wanted to go in) people will say we can afford it but we have had 2 weeks Dom Rep AI £289 last 2 weeks in August, Jamaica AI £359 easter holidays, Tunisia FB 10 days over easter holidays £400 for the whole family, so there are cheap holidays out there if you look for them

Perhaps there are cheap hols out there etc. In my case, the difference between going the week before half term and half term week is £1200 approx ! A lot of money when you only work part time imo

exil

I always end up being the death's head at the feast but here we go again.

UP TO A POINT there may be some educational benefit in taking kids on holiday. 10 days a year seems a reasonable limit. There might be the occasional exception - once-in-a-lifetime trip to see relatives, etc.

However - anyone who habitually takes their kids out of school for a couple of weeks baking in the sun in Majorca obviously has little regard for the value of education.

Bear in mind that a large %age of the population don't go away on holiday - and that would probably include a lot of people on these forums trying to pay back debts! That is - holidays abroad are not an entitlement.

cheekymole

I personally think that my daughter will get more benefit from 10 days in New Zealand than being in a Nativity play

And 10 days out of school is hardly likely to affect a child's reading and writing ability if parents read and write with them whilst away (buy travel book or even free leaflets about the exciting places they will be visiting)

slobbery

I am taking my children away in May (after SATS) and I will do what I always do - give the holiday form in on the last day of school - if it was up to me I wouldn't fill one in at all but my oh is slightly more conformist!
I refuse to be told by the government, school or anyone else when I can and can't go on holiday.
Having had holidays of varying length every year I have never had a problem with the school. I think telling them we're going rather than "asking" may be why!

RightRevBod

I think that a lot depends on the age of the child in question.

I am a governor of an infant school, and the policy of our head is to allow any reasonable requests. Travel is educational, even a week on a Costa is showing the child another part of the world.

We try to take our holiday during school holidays, but because flights are often mid week, we sometimes have to request 2/3 days from school at the start or end.

Our school now has an idea to get the child to do a short report on their holiday and then do a little presentation to the class when they get back. This turns it into a field trip. I understand from my sister-in-law who lives in a different area that this is a widespread initiative.

If you expect that your request will be refused, you could ask for work for your children to do whilst away. This will at least show that you are considering the effects of time off school on the education of your children.

If you are intending to take them out of school just before/during exams, then I can understand that the head might be reluctant. You would also have to consider if this was a good idea.

Finally, if you are refused, here are two thoughts to ponder:

1. You are legally entitled to educate your children yourself. You do not have to send them to school.

2. While out of the country, you are not subject to English law (I am assuming here that you are in England. If not, substitute the correct country).

hammy_the_hammer

i think the rules allow for the exceptional circumstances of someone having to take leave from the armed forces , once in a lifetime type of visit etc i don't believe that they are there for financial reasons. i saw a snippet on the tv the other month and they were interviewing a pub landlord and his wife ...their reasoning for taking the kids out of school was they could then afford to go to the carribean instead of the med. ...people like this make it harder for the genuine people. at the end of the day there's 13 weeks to take the kids away ....somewhere

Quackers

hammy_the_hammer wrote:

i think the rules allow for the exceptional circumstances of someone having to take leave from the armed forces , once in a lifetime type of visit etc i don't believe that they are there for financial reasons. i saw a snippet on the tv the other month and they were interviewing a pub landlord and his wife ...their reasoning for taking the kids out of school was they could then afford to go to the carribean instead of the med. ...people like this make it harder for the genuine people. at the end of the day there's 13 weeks to take the kids away ....somewhere

And what if you work in a job where you cannot have the school holidays off?

I know I took the job through choice but it pays the bills as they say and does enable me to have the kind of holiday I want to have.

My eldest daughter is disabled. We always go in November as it is quieter. She could not stand the hustle and bustle of busy school holiday times and to be honest we dont like it much too.

Although the 2 reasons why I do it are maybe slightly different than other peoples reasons I too, do not think taking children out of school for 2 weeks in the year does them a huge amount of harm.

Also, saying that 2 weeks holiday in the sun, swimming and sitting in a bar of an evening doing nothing is a huge generalisation. And even if that is what happens then it is quality family time that may not happen during the day to day lives that some families have

jonesMUFCforever

For all those people who have posted on here against taking your kids out of school during term time - please add up all the 'inset' teacher training days that your school have had in the last year!! These could just as easily been done in the TWELVE weeks school holidays!!
It is set in stone in an Education Act that you are allowed to take your kids out of school for a maximum of 10 school days per year.